Improvement in lamp-stands



R. S. MERRILL. Lamp-Stand.

No. 201,266. Patented March 12, I878.

MPEFERS, FHOTO LITHOGRAPHEK WASHINGTON, D (L UnITEDI STA E s PATENT OFFICE.

RUFUS S. MERRILL, OF BOSTON, I\IASSAOHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN LAMP-STANDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 201,266, dated March 12, 1878; application filed March 4, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

formed at any convenient point in the lamp- Be it known that I, RUFUs S. MERRILL, of stand. In this instance the movement is in- Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lamps, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to portable or hand lamps, in contradistinction-to lamps that are fixtures and it has special reference to the lamp-standthat is to say, that part of the lamp which supports the oil fount or bowl.

I have found it very desirable to combine in one a lamp and a clock or time-keeper; and to this end I have devised a novel construction of the lamp-stand, whereby it is adapted to contain a clock-movement that is independent of the lamp in the sense of being so arranged that it can bodily be applied to or removed from the stand as occasion may require.

The stand is formed with a receptacle or chamber adapted to contain the clock-movement, and with an aperture through which is displayed the clock-dial, or through which, in case the dial is fixed to or formed on the outside of the stand, pass the arbors that carry the hands of the clock.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented so much of a lamp as is needed to enable others to understand and use my invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of thelamp-stand, with part of the oil fount or bowl that surmounts it. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of the same with the clock-movement removed. Fig. 3 is a view of the clock-movement detached.

The stand A is made, preferably, of metal, cast in one piece, and is formed with an internal receptacle or chamber, a, adapted to contain a clock or timekeeping movement.

At a proper point in one of the sides of the chamber is a window or aperture, 1), through which are displayed the hands and the dial. This aperture is to be provided with a hinged glass door, as will be understood without further explanation.

The clock-movement (shown detached at B) can be applied to or removed from the stand bodily. The opening through which the movement is inserted into the receptacle can be serted into the chamber through the bottom of the stand, and is held in place by screws, which pass through the stand into the bottom plate of the frame that supports the working parts of the movement. The upper end of the stand, in this instance, terminates in a socket, 0, which is used (in case a glass oil fount or bowl is employed, as indicated at d) to receive the peg of the bowl.

The clock-movement is arranged so as to be long and slender rather than short and broad. In this way I am enabled to adapt it to the lamp-stem without appreciably increasing the thickness of the stem, thus better adapting the device to be used with ordinary hand-lamps.

Any convenient arrangement for winding the clock may be adopted. The lamp shown in the drawing has for this purpose a key that is inserted through the side of the stand at c, and screwed on the winding-arbor of the movement.

It is manifest that my improvement is applicable as well to candlesticks and candelabra as to oil-lamps.

In another application for Letters Patent, filed January 28, 1878, I have shown and described a combined clock and oil-fount, in which a clock of otherwise ordinary or suitable construction is formed with a socket on top to receive the peg of the lamp bowl or fount. This I do not here claim.

I am aware that there has before been de scribed a lamp having a spring-movement for forcing up the oil to the burner, combined with an exterior hand or pointer whose movement is proportional to the amount of oil consumed.

I am also aware that upon an ordinary clock has been placed a rotary diaphanous dial-cylinder, inclosing a small lamp, which rotates with and illuminates the cylinder, both being supported upon a vertical rotary spindle projecting above the clock, and forming a part of the clock-movement.

I claim none of these things.

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A portable or hand lamp whose stand is formed with an internal receptacle or chamber adapted to contain a clock-movement, and with an aperture or opening for displaying the clock-- dial, or for the passage of the hand-arbors of bodily fitted into and removed from said chamher, as set'forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I hereunto afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RUFUS S. MERRILL.

Witnesses M. BAILEY, M. GEoRGiis. 

